Would joiners be reluctant to touch woodworm?

Robertson74

Hello. I have posted before, several weeks ago about tradesmen and my house worries and the difficult of getting tradesmen to come.

The one are of immediate concern, at the moment is the utility room- I do the washing in there and cant use my washing machine.  The floor is very brittle and has wood worm and another area may have dry rot from a leak. I got a new washing machine and the men who delivered it wouldn't fit it because their feet were going through the floor.

I have been contacting several joiners to no avail. One of them said the floor would need to be treated, but he would still look at the job, but he never turned up.

I have painted the floor years previously with a wood work killer, but the boards are still brittle. I want to have the floor and joists replaced, but what I'd like to ask is, am I wasting my time with joiners? Could they be worried about the eggs and worms getting into their tools and clothes and being spread to other jobs?

My late mother had the loft treated for woodworm twenty years ago, but not the floor. It is also in door frames and skirting boards round the house. I don't like the thought of chemicals in the utility room and round my house, when I am living here. I just want the boards ripped out and replaced, but will all tradesmen steer clear?

Section62

Robertson74 said:

Hello. I have posted before, several weeks ago about tradesmen and my house worries and the difficult of getting tradesmen to come.

The one are of immediate concern, at the moment is the utility room- I do the washing in there and cant use my washing machine.  The floor is very brittle and has wood worm and another area may have dry rot from a leak. I got a new washing machine and the men who delivered it wouldn't fit it because their feet were going through the floor.

I have been contacting several joiners to no avail. One of them said the floor would need to be treated, but he would still look at the job, but he never turned up.

I have painted the floor years previously with a wood work killer, but the boards are still brittle. I want to have the floor and joists replaced, but what I'd like to ask is, am I wasting my time with joiners? Could they be worried about the eggs and worms getting into their tools and clothes and being spread to other jobs?

My late mother had the loft treated for woodworm twenty years ago, but not the floor. It is also in door frames and skirting boards round the house. I don't like the thought of chemicals in the utility room and round my house, when I am living here. I just want the boards ripped out and replaced, but will all tradesmen steer clear?

No.

But replacing a floor is more of a general builder type job rather than one for a joiner.

Does the utility room have units/cupboards in it?

If the house is infested then you really need to use treated wood only.

Robertson74

Hello. The utility room doesn't have any cupboards or units. It's quite a large room with hardwood floors and I don't know what the joists are like.

I wouldn't like to ask a builder as they would think the job too small. I have asked several joiners, but they aren't interested.

I think all the wood in the house is untreated or it has lost it over the years. My late parents had a chest in the house which had woodworm and I think this caused the problem. The woodworm spread everywhere.

I don't know what it cost to get all this replaced?

Swipe

Take up a board and have a look at a joist to see what you are dealing with.

WIAWSNB

Hi Robertson.
Could you explain what you mean by 'hardwood' floor? Any chance of a pic?
You do have an extensive infestation by the sounds, so best treated together if possible. For a start, ID and list all the places where you have found active holes.
I presume the floor in the ute is bare and exposed? What about in the adjacent rooms? Do any other floors feel springy at all? If not, the joists below might be salvageable, or require only 'sistering' for strength.
If 'all' that's needed is for the majority of joists to be treated, and new flooring put on top, then 22mm (& water-resistant) chipboard flooring is a quick and easy task for a builder.
It must be hellish, but it isn't anything that hasn't been seen by every general builder or joiner before. 
If it's only the ute floor that's damaged beyond repair, then it isn't really that big a job - the floor and any affected joists are removed, and replaced - no worse that putting in a floor in a new extension; a bread & butter task. Obvs, all the remaining timbers need spraying.
I don't know how DIYish you are, but treating the ww in order to prevent it escalating involves little more that wielding a pump-up garden sprayer. 
The water-based chemicals typically used are generally not unpleasant in terms of smell and risk, tho' the instructions need to be carefully followed. (Recent thread an exception...)
So, even if you cannot remove the affected timbers yourself - that includes skirtings, etc - then you can at least treat them to hopefully begin the eradication process; saturate the offending timbers, leave all the doors and windows in these rooms open or ajar, and temporarily use another room for 'living' in if needed.
I'd have thought that, as winter approaches, general builders will be looking for indoor jobs like this! So keep on trying.

Robertson74

Thanks for your replies.

Swipe and WIAWSNB. I haven't got the means to upload a picture. The boards are made of natural wood in sections. Some boards are less bad than others, but others have gone through. The loft was treated above by a woodworm company twenty odd years ago and the utility room was was painted by myself, but they spread  elsewhere. The skirtings and wood in the house is varnished, so it will need to be removed as the chemicals couldn't penetrate the varnish with spraying.
 
The reason I never treated it elsewhere was cats and living in the rooms, but I could use another room to stay in.

That's good to hear about those jobs being done in the winter and the joiners and builders seeing it all before. I was going to ask a woodworm company if they replaced floors, but I'd much rather have a joiner or builder. I reckon I'll just have to keep trying to get them.